Western Ghats ESA: Seventh Draft Notification Faces Objections from the Six States
The Union Environment Ministry issued its seventh draft notification on July 27, 2026, to declare parts of the Western Ghats as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA). Six earlier drafts, starting in 2014, lapsed without a final notification.
The draft covers 56,825.7 sq km across six states: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is issued under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
What it bans: new mining, quarrying and sand mining; new thermal power plants and "red category" (most polluting) industries; and large buildings of 20,000 sq m or more and big townships. Existing mines must close within five years of the final notification or when their lease ends, whichever is earlier.
What it allows: people can keep living and farming. Existing homes can be repaired. Hydropower is not banned outright but needs environmental assessment and must keep a minimum river flow in the dry season. The draft does not take private land or evict anyone.
States' objections: On September 22, 2026, the Karnataka legislature unanimously rejected the draft in its present form and asked for one year to do physical ground surveys. It says satellite maps cannot tell forests apart from farms, plantations and homes. Kerala wants its ESA cut from 9,993.7 sq km to 8,590.69 sq km by leaving out inhabited areas, farms and plantations. Maharashtra, Goa and Tamil Nadu have also asked for changes.
The 60-day window for objections has closed. The expert committee examining the objections has been given time until July 2027.
Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs) and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
An Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) is land that the Central Government marks as fragile and very valuable for nature. Inside it, the most harmful activities such as mining, quarrying and polluting industries are banned or tightly controlled. People can still live, farm and carry on normal life there. The aim is to stop damage, not to lock nature away from people.
The Western Ghats draft is being issued under exactly this power. Because it is still a draft, states can object, and the Centre must weigh those objections before it can make the ESA final. That is why the process has now reached a seventh draft.
The Gadgil and Kasturirangan Committees on Western Ghats Conservation
India set up two expert groups, one after the other, to decide how to protect the Western Ghats. The first, the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) led by ecologist Madhav Gadgil, gave a strict plan in 2011 that treated most of the range as sensitive. States objected, so the government set up a High-Level Working Group (HLWG) led by space scientist K. Kasturirangan, which gave a narrower plan in 2013. All ESA drafts since 2014 are based on the Kasturirangan approach.
The six-state resistance to the seventh draft is the same debate that began in 2011: how much land should be protected, and who decides. Even the narrower Kasturirangan-based map is still seen by states like Karnataka and Kerala as too wide, which shows why no final notification has come for over a decade.
Western Ghats: Geography and Ecological Significance
The Western Ghats are a long chain of hills running along India's western coast, from Gujarat in the north to near Kanyakumari in the south. They are about 1,600 km long and pass through six states. They are older than the Himalayas and are among the richest places for plants and animals on Earth. Their heavy rainfall also feeds major rivers of peninsular India.
The ESA draft exists because the Western Ghats are both ecologically unique and heavily populated and used. States argue for livelihoods and land rights, while conservationists point to biodiversity loss and disaster risk. The final notification will have to balance both.
- Seventh draft ESA notification: July 27, 2026; earlier drafts since 2014 lapsed
- Area proposed: 56,825.7 sq km across six states
- Karnataka legislature rejected the draft: September 22, 2026; asked for one year for physical surveys
- Kerala's request: cut its ESA from 9,993.7 sq km to 8,590.69 sq km
- Expert committee on objections: extended to July 2027
- Existing mines: phase-out within 5 years of final notification or at lease expiry, whichever is earlier
- Construction ban threshold: 20,000 sq m built-up area
- Legal basis: Section 3(2)(v), Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; Rule 5(1), Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986
- Gadgil (WGEEP) 2011: about 64% sensitive; Kasturirangan (HLWG) 2013: about 37%
- Western Ghats: UNESCO World Heritage Site 2012, 39 component parts